Advice for a novice?

Hey there! I'm about to post my first story on this site and I'm hoping for some advice from you more experienced authors. I don't want to bug (Laurel?) with emails if possible.

I'm going to post several chapters. How do I submit it as a story series, or is that something I change after I have posted a few parts?

Do you suggest submitting multiple chapters one after another, or should I wait til one gets accepted to submit the next, or do a couple at a time?

The first chapter is a short intro. It's the only one with no NSFW content. Do you think I should submit it as non-erotic, or put it in the same category as the rest of the story?

I'm happy to read any other advice you have, as well! Particularly about tags/picking a category. Just glancing over the bulletin board, you all seem pretty cool. I hope this works out.

dirtbottle said:

Hey there! I'm about to post my first story on this site and I'm hoping for some advice from you more experienced authors. I don't want to bug (Laurel?) with emails if possible.

I'm going to post several chapters. How do I submit it as a story series, or is that something I change after I have posted a few parts?

Do you suggest submitting multiple chapters one after another, or should I wait til one gets accepted to submit the next, or do a couple at a time?

The first chapter is a short intro. It's the only one with no NSFW content. Do you think I should submit it as non-erotic, or put it in the same category as the rest of the story?

I'm happy to read any other advice you have, as well! Particularly about tags/picking a category. Just glancing over the bulletin board, you all seem pretty cool. I hope this works out.

Click to expand...

When you post them is up to you. Give them all the same story name plus chapter 01, 02 etc. In the NOTES box put the story name and chapter number. That tells Laurel it's a series.

If it is a long series you can post them as novel or novella with the appropriate tags...from what you are saying the first chapter would be submitted as novel with the tag NON EROTIC and whatever else applies.

If you submit more than one chapter, Laurel probably will post them on different days. That's what she did with mine. Hope this helps. Good luck.

dirtbottle said:

Hey there! I'm about to post my first story on this site and I'm hoping for some advice from you more experienced authors. I don't want to bug (Laurel?) with emails if possible.

I'm going to post several chapters. How do I submit it as a story series, or is that something I change after I have posted a few parts?

Do you suggest submitting multiple chapters one after another, or should I wait til one gets accepted to submit the next, or do a couple at a time?

The first chapter is a short intro. It's the only one with no NSFW content. Do you think I should submit it as non-erotic, or put it in the same category as the rest of the story?

I'm happy to read any other advice you have, as well! Particularly about tags/picking a category. Just glancing over the bulletin board, you all seem pretty cool. I hope this works out.

Click to expand...

Chapter stories: title them something like this.

Blah Blah Ch. 01
Blah Blah Ch. 02
...
Blah Blah Ch. 99

The site should automatically recognise that as a series and link them together. It can take a few hours after a chapter's posted before it links, though.

Multiple chapters: I *think* if you submit them all together they get posted one per day, but my knowledge may be out of date. If you've written the whole series in advance I'd recommend letting readers know that at the start of the first story, along with a rough posting schedule; some readers don't want to start a series until they know the author's finished it, because too many authors leave people hanging on never-finished stories.

Category: for a series it's usually best to pick a single category that best matches the overall story theme, rather than hopping. If your first chapter doesn't have sex, maybe mention that in the note at the start, otherwise some readers will get grumpy.

This How-To might help choose an appropriate cat: https://www.literotica.com/s/love-your-readers-categories

Tags: if your story fits more than one category, you can use these to signal the others, e.g. I have one in Lesbian that also gets tagged as "romance" and "lesbian romance". Beyond that, I guess tag according to things that you think people might look for? I don't think many readers use tags but this may change with site updates.

You guys are being quite helpful. More so than I expected actually. Is there a pretty good community here?

Guess I'm gonna go for it. No more stalling.

Thanks for the sound advice, all!

I'd think very carefully about making the first chapter non-sexual. I may be wrong but, in my experience, serials already have enough problems; the number of views declines quite rapidly with each succeeding chapter and, if you don't grab readers in the first chapter, they definitely won't come back. Plus, you may not get a good score and an H-rating is one of the things that helps to draw people in.

If you really can't build some sex into chapter 1 then I'd definitely end it with a 'trailer' for chapter 2 to let readers know that it's going to build up and it's worth coming back.If it were me, and if chapter 1 is only short, I'd merge it into chapter 2.

Do not forget that a Lit Page is about 3500 words.

Do not forget the zero in front of the number (01, 02 etc.,) otherwise the bloody computer gets the numbering out of synch.

Good Luck

dirtbottle said:

Hey there! I'm about to post my first story on this site and I'm hoping for some advice from you more experienced authors. I don't want to bug (Laurel?) with emails if possible.

I'm going to post several chapters. How do I submit it as a story series, or is that something I change after I have posted a few parts?

Do you suggest submitting multiple chapters one after another, or should I wait til one gets accepted to submit the next, or do a couple at a time?

The first chapter is a short intro. It's the only one with no NSFW content. Do you think I should submit it as non-erotic, or put it in the same category as the rest of the story?

I'm happy to read any other advice you have, as well! Particularly about tags/picking a category. Just glancing over the bulletin board, you all seem pretty cool. I hope this works out.

Click to expand...

What category are you posting in? How big are the chapters?

I'm an Incest reader and for Incest, I strongly recommend avoiding chapters if at all possible. Particularly if the first chapter has no sex. Your audience is going to shrink to very small very quickly if you do.

Really, the best thing to do is start with a complete story. Get your feet wet. Hone your writing skills. Find out what works and what doesn't. Establish a name. Don't commit yourself to writing a bunch of chapters when, just because of the learning curve, the first few chapters aren't going to be very good.

Good advice

8letters said:

What category are you posting in? How big are the chapters?

I'm in Incest reader and for Incest, I strongly recommend avoiding chapters if at all possible. Particularly if the first chapter has no sex. Your audience is going to shrink to very small very quickly if you do.

Really, the best thing to do is start with a complete story. Get your feet wet. Hone your writing skills. Find out what works and what doesn't. Establish a name. Don't commit yourself to writing a bunch of chapters when, just because of the learning curve, the first few chapters aren't going to be very good.

Click to expand...

I wish I had come on and asked this very question...I think I have made that mistake lol. Live and learn!